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Tacloban Residents Describe Frenzied Dash for Goods
Philippine City’s Residents Describe Rifling of Stores
(about 7 hours later)
TACLOBAN, the Philippines — By the time Bjorn Racaza joined the crowds rummaging through Robinsons Department Store, he thought he was too late. It was around 6 p.m. on Nov. 10, two days after Typhoon Haiyan destroyed much of this city of 235,000, and the plundering of its largest department store — some for necessities, some of it not — was in full fury.
TACLOBAN, the Philippines — By the time Bjorn Racaza joined the crowds rummaging through Robinsons Department Store, he thought he was too late. It was around 6 p.m. on Nov. 10, two days after Typhoon Haiyan destroyed much of this city of 235,000, and the plundering of its largest department store — some of it for necessities, some of it not — was in full fury.
“When I got here the rice was gone,” said Mr. Racaza, 34, who works in customer service for a Hyundai dealership here. “The only thing that was not touched was the spaghetti.” So he grabbed a box, later finding sauce to go with it.
“When I got here, the rice was gone,” said Mr. Racaza, 34, who works in customer service for a Hyundai dealership here. “The only thing that was not touched was the spaghetti.” So he grabbed a box, later finding sauce to go with it.
As he pushed a cart through the department store in the city’s largest mall, his two cousins fanned out to grab other goods. Then some people broke open a storeroom, and Mr. Racaza picked up clothes and shoes for his parents, his sister and her young children.
As he pushed a cart through the department store, which is in the city’s largest mall, two cousins fanned out to grab other goods. Then some people broke open a storeroom, and Mr. Racaza picked up clothes and shoes for his parents, his sister and her young children — some of which he said he needed to replace those lost in the storm.
“I said, ‘Wow, this is really a Christmas present,' ” Mr. Racaza said.
“I said, ‘Wow, this is really a Christmas present,’ ” Mr. Racaza said.
In interviews, Mr. Racaza and others explained their actions as the product of a desperate situation. Their city had been hit by a horrific typhoon, and in the immediate aftermath the prospects of relief were faint. But the pillaging went far beyond necessities, with some people taking anything they could get their hands on, including jewelry, appliances and vehicles.
In interviews, Mr. Racaza and others explained their actions as the product of a desperate situation. Their city had been hit by a devastating typhoon, and in the immediate chaotic aftermath, the prospects of relief were faint. But the pillaging sometimes went far beyond necessities, with some people taking anything they could get their hands on, including jewelry, appliances and vehicles.
Robinsons is now a largely empty shell, with piles of glass, soaked papers and broken mannequins scattered on the floor. Parts of the roof are missing. The wheels of display vehicles have been stolen. A single alarm still sounds nearly two weeks after the storm.
Robinsons is now a largely empty shell, with piles of glass, soaked papers and broken mannequins scattered on the floor. The wheels of display vehicles have been removed. A single alarm still sounds, nearly two weeks after the storm.
The streets of Tacloban, now dotted with police checkpoints, feel far safer than they did a week ago. The lack of power means little light in the evenings, though, and a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. remains in force.
The streets of Tacloban, now dotted with police checkpoints, feel far safer than they did a week ago, when too few security officers were in the city. The lack of power means little light in the evenings, though, and a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. remains in force.
Business owners say they still worry about security, and the post-storm breakdown in law and order has slowed the return of normal commerce here. Aid groups said the sometimes desperate rush for relief supplies did not affect distribution, though two Philippine Red Cross convoys were delayed last week on Leyte Island because of security concerns, said Ryan Jay Jopia, the health services department manager for the group.
Business owners say they still worry about security, and the post-storm breakdown in law and order in this city has slowed the return of normal commerce here. Aid groups said the sometimes desperate rush for relief supplies did not affect distribution, though two Philippine Red Cross convoys — including one that was almost hijacked — were delayed last week because of security concerns.
In downtown Tacloban, debris has been mostly cleared from the streets, but in some places it has just been pushed onto sidewalks and parking places. Overturned cars that once blocked intersections have been moved aside.
At the open-air market downtown, stalls selling fruit, fish, shellfish, vegetables, soft drinks, soap and cooking oil have finally reopened, hawking goods next to piles of decomposing debris. Residents say some goods that had been taken from stores were sold here in recent days.
At the open-air market downtown, stalls selling fruit, fish, shellfish, vegetables, soft drinks, soap and cooking oil have opened, hawking goods next to piles of decomposing debris. Residents say some looted goods were sold here in recent days.
Some banks have begun to reopen, though they can offer only limited transactions.
Some banks have begun to open, though they can offer only limited transactions.
At a UnionBank branch, staff members recharged their computers and phones on a solar-powered generator.
A filing cabinet with its drawers pulled open to let the contents dry in the sun sits in front of a UnionBank branch. Staff members charge their computers and phones on a solar-powered generator. The branch opened Thursday, said Joey Samson, 50, a bank employee who drove to Tacloban from Manila to help reopen outlets after the storm.
“We’re not worried about security,” said Joey Samson, an employee. The branch has an armed guard, and the police have set up a roadblock immediately across the street.
“We’re not worried about security,” Mr. Samson said. The branch has an armed guard, and the police have set up a roadblock immediately across the street.
The police have been trying to round up people who stole luxury items and recover the lost goods. Items confiscated from vehicles on the suspicion that they were looted sit at many police roadblocks. On Wednesday, the police took possession of four motorcycles that were probably stolen after the storm and had been hidden along the waterfront, said Inspector Karl Sanchez, of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force.
The police have been trying to round up people who stole luxury items and recover those lost goods. Items confiscated from vehicles on the suspicion that they were looted sit at many police roadblocks. On Wednesday, the police took possession of four motorcycles that had been hidden along the waterfront, said Inspector Karl Sanchez of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force, which has been dispatched to Tacloban to help the police force here that lost members in the storm. Three or four men suspected of stealing the motorcycles escaped by boat during the police raid, Inspector Sanchez said.
Security concerns were exacerbated by prisoners who were freed or who escaped from detention facilities on Leyte Island, where Tacloban is. Most of the pillaging was not done by hardened criminals, however, but by residents reeling after the storm.
Security concerns were exacerbated by prisoner breakouts from detention facilities on Leyte Island. Nearly 160 prisoners escaped from the Tacloban City Jail after the storm, when high waters broke open the main gate, said Januario Tragura, a senior jail official. As of Thursday 85 prisoners were still missing. The rest were recaptured or voluntarily returned, he said.
Sociologists and health experts who have studied mass behavior during natural disasters said much of what happened was not really looting, given the circumstances. "I think a better term would be ’foraging for resources,’ ” said Daniel J. Kruger, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
In the city of Palo, just south of Tacloban, more than 600 inmates escaped from the provincial prison and 300 fled the city jail, Mayor Remedios Petilla said. Only a handful have since returned, she said.
When survivors feel they are confronting "absolute chaos," he said, their perception of what is permissible can change. “There’s no infrastructure, no authority and no regulation,” Professor Kruger said. “Everyone fends for themselves.”
Most of the pillaging, however, was not done by hardened criminals, but by ordinary citizens, many of them reeling after the storm. Marlon Taño, 46, a correspondent with The Freeman, a newspaper in Cebu, began looking for goods after his house and all his possessions were destroyed by the storm surge. He relocated his wife and two daughters to the Leyte provincial capital building in Tacloban, but with only 50 pesos, or about $1, in his pocket, he did not know how he could buy rice and medicine for foot injuries that he suffered in the storm.
Marlon Taño, 46, a correspondent with The Freeman, a newspaper in Cebu, began looking for goods after his house and all his possessions were destroyed by the storm surge. He relocated his wife and two daughters to the Leyte provincial capital building in Tacloban, but with only 50 pesos, about $1, in his pocket, he did not know how he could buy rice and medicine for foot injuries he sustained in the storm.
He walked to the Rose Pharmacy, where he noticed several friends taking items. He grabbed some antibiotics there and then took rice, chocolates and candy from another store.
He walked to the Rose Pharmacy, where he saw people taking items. He grabbed some antibiotics there and then took rice, chocolates and candy from another store. “Anybody will do it,” he said. “Anybody will loot to stay alive and keep his family alive.”
“Anybody will do it,” he said. “Anybody will loot to stay alive and keep his family alive.”
Mr. Racaza, who took the spaghetti and clothes, said much the same. “If you’re just going to stay at home and wait for someone to feed you,” he said, “that’s not going to work.”
Marvin Martinez, 39, said he went to Robinsons on Sunday. He was worried about the possibility of a stampede, so he told his wife to sit in a display vehicle parked in the middle of the mall.
But Manuel Roxas, a business owner, rejected the assertion that people had to take goods to survive.
He heard what he thought were warning shots fired by guards to keep looters from heading to the department store’s second floor, where nonfood items were sold. So he circled around to an escalator, avoiding the guards to walk up to the second floor. He decided to try to find an alternative electricity source since the city’s electricity was knocked out.
Mr. Roxas named his store Hayward after the city near San Francisco that was his home in the United States, where he worked for three decades. He plowed his savings into the small grocery store.
“Right at the door I saw it was a solar panel. It was just in time,” he said. He grabbed it an hurried downstairs. “I am already using it to charge my phones,” he said Thursday.
The day of the typhoon, he reopened after the waters subsided, but he stopped selling when customers began grabbing goods without paying. “Lots of people were stealing,” he said, “just putting things in their pockets.”
Mr. Martinez says he took the goods in a panic about the possibility of not getting any help following the storm. Mr. Racaza said it would have been foolish to wait for outside aid.
He closed for more than a week, and since he reopened he is taking extraordinary precautions. Mr. Roxas has closed the six-foot-tall metal fence in front of his store, placing snacks, cigarettes, soft drinks, eggs and soap shipped from less damaged islands on a table behind it. Customers pass money and receive their items through the fence.
“If you’re just going to stay at home and wait for someone to feed you, that’s not going to work,” he said.
With few other commercial outlets available, a steady stream of residents, foreign aid workers and Filipino firefighters stop to purchase goods that are hard to find elsewhere in town.
Manuel Roxas, a business owner, rejected the assertion that people had to take goods to survive.
Mr. Roxas said he still worried about his safety, but with his mortgage payment and other expenses coming due, he said, he had no choice. “I have to open because I owe big bills,” he said.
Mr. Roxas named his store Hayward after the San Francisco Bay-area city that was his home in the United States, where he worked for three decades. He plowed his savings into a small grocery store with a hotel on the top floor in downtown Tacloban. The day of the typhoon, he reopened his store after the waters subsided. He continued selling the day after but stopped when customers began grabbing goods without paying.
Jes
Aznar and Keith Bradsher contributed reporting from Tacloban, and Rick Gladstone from New York.
“Lots of people were stealing, just putting things in their pockets,” he said.
“On day three I closed because it was scary,” he said. “There was shooting all the time.” He left his shop closed for more than a week, finally reopening on Nov. 19. “Until now, it was not safe,” he said.
Mr. Roxas has closed the 6-foot-tall metal fence in front of his store, placing snacks, cigarettes, soft drinks, eggs and soap shipped from less damaged islands on a table behind it. Customers pass money and receive their items through the fence. With few other commercial outlets available, a steady stream of residents, foreign aid workers and Filipino firefighters stop to purchase goods that are hard to find elsewhere in town.
Mr. Roxas said he did not feel totally comfortable reopening his store and worried about his safety, but with his mortgage payment and other expenses coming due, he had no choice.
“I have to open because I owe big bills,” he said.
Jes Aznar and Keith Bradsher contributed reporting.
